INTL Only at the South Pole: Icebreaker also stuck -- in ice -- heading for stranded ship

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NEW: Rescue efforts are at a frozen standstill just like stranded ship
Chinese icebreaker expected to arrive first but has been stopped by ice and storm
The stranded research vessel is carrying tourists and scientists studying climate change
The 74 people aboard had a "great Christmas" while at a frozen standstill, leader says

(CNN) -- South Pole weather has stymied a rescue by a Chinese icebreaker trying to reach an expedition vessel trapped for the past four days in frozen seas, a ship officer told CNN Friday.

The Chinese icebreaker Xue Long, or Snow Dragon, was just six nautical miles away from the rescue, but now it's stuck in an Antarctica ice floe, too.

The Chinese crew is hoping a French icebreaker 14 nautical miles away will arrive and offer relief, said Zhu Li, chief officer of the Chinese ship.

But it's likely the French vessel Astrolabe will also be slowed by the polar cap's extreme frigidity, Zhu said.

Those two icebreakers -- plus a third, from Australia -- were battling the planet's coldest environment in trying to reach the stranded Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, whose 74 researchers, crew and tourists remained in good condition despite being at a frozen standstill since Monday.
Antarctic crew amazed by viral fame

It all shows that some lands -- especially the ends of the Earth -- will never be tamed.

Morale high on ship stuck off Antarctica
Ships headed to ice-trapped vessel

The Snow Dragon is in near-constant communication with the Russian exploration vessel and has ample supplies of water, food and medicine -- even a helicopter -- if the ice-bound Shokalskiy needed them, Zhu said.

The Russian expedition ship is carrying scientists and passengers led by an Australian climate change professor, but they all may have to wait two more days for one or all three icebreakers to free it, said Capt. Wang Jiangzhong of the Snow Dragon.

"Right now we are waiting for winds to blow ice away so we can move closer," Wang told CNN. "The current ice condition is exceeding our capabilities to break through further."

The captain also acknowledged his ship may need help from the other icebreakers headed to the area if conditions deteriorate.

"We are in continual communication with the (stranded) ship," he said in a satellite phone call with CNN. "I think it's at least a form of emotional relief for them to know we are nearby to help. We know that they (passengers) are all doing well on that ship."

The Aurora Australis out of Australia is two days from the Russian ship, its captain, Murray Doyle, told CNN on Friday.

China's State Oceanic Administration said the Xue Long sailed through an intense cyclone to reach the Akademik Shokalskiy sooner.

Meanwhile, spirits were high Friday aboard the Akademik Shokalskiy.

"The vessel is fine, it's safe and everyone on board is very well," expedition leader Chris Turney, a professor of climate change at University of New South Wales in Australia told CNN. "Morale is really high."

It got stuck in the ice on Monday night -- 15 days after setting out on the second leg of its research trip.

According to Turney, the ship was surrounded by ice up to nearly 10 feet (3 meters) thick some 100 nautical miles east of the French base Dumont D'Urville, about 1,500 nautical miles south of Hobart, Tasmania.

On Christmas morning, the ship sent a satellite distress signal after conditions failed to clear.

The crew had a "great Christmas" despite their situation, Turney told CNN earlier. He said crew members have used the delay to get more work done.

"We've just kept the team busy," he said.

The expedition is trying to update scientific measurements taken by an Australian expedition led by Douglas Mawson that set out in 1911.

The expedition to gauge the effects of climate change on the region began November 27. The second, and current leg of the trip, started December 8 and was scheduled to conclude with a return to New Zealand on January 4.

Guess they forgot to load a steaming cargo of Algoregasm to melt the ice...

The wonder of our time isn’t how angry we are at politics and politicians; it’s how little we’ve done about it. - Fran Porretto
-http://bastionofliberty.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-wholly-rational-hatred.html

My hunting partner went with his significant other on a similar "cruise" about this time last year.
They flew to some place in Argentina where they met the ship. A side trip To The Falkland Islands was part of the package.
This time of the year is their Summer.
GGK

"Adverse weather conditions have resulted in the Aurora Australis moving back into open water this afternoon," the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a Twitter message.

The Australis got to about 10 nautical miles, or about 11.5 geographical miles, from the trapped ship before going out to open water, the agency, which is coordinating the rescue, said in a separate statement.

AMSA didn't say if the icebreaker would be able to try again.

The Australis is the second icebreaker to try and fail to reach the ship.

The Chinese vessel the Xue Long, or Snow Dragon, had to quit Saturday when it hit ice up to 17 feet thick.

Passengers aboard the 233-foot Akademik Shokalskiy, stuck in the ice off the coast of Antarctica since Christmas Eve, were told they may have to be evacuated by air, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported.

The newspaper has two reporters on the Shokalskiy.

But AMSA said it was unsafe to try that, at least for now.

The planned air rescue was to have come from the Snow Dragon, Greg Mortimer, co-leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which chartered the ship, told the newspaper.

"That would happen by the Chinese vessel sending their helicopter to us, us preparing a helipad on the ice next to the ship and flying passengers from that ice onto the other vessels. Then taking them home via the Ross Sea or [Australian Antarctic base] Casey base by ship," he said.

But AMSA said it was currently "unsafe to attempt to launch the helicopter from the Chinese vessel."

The passengers -- made up of about 25 professors and graduate students and 20 tourists -- as well as 22 Russian crew members, are safe, Mortimer told the Guardian.

But that could change if an iceberg began moving toward the ship, he said. The nearest icebergs were several miles away.

If one came close, the Shokalskiy would have a day or two's notice to carry out any emergency evacuation, the Guardian said.

The Shokalskiy, a 233-foot, ice-strengthened ship, got stuck in a blizzard a bit more than two weeks into a monthlong expedition to trace the steps of Australian geologist Douglas Mawson on the 102nd anniversary of his December 1911 antarctic expedition during the southernmost continent's so-called heroic age of exploration.

The ship left Bluff, New Zealand's southernmost town, Dec. 8. Bluff is the same town Mawson left Dec. 2, 1911.

Mawson experienced a blizzard too.

The ship is stuck in thick ice floes at a small, steep rocky island near Cape de la Motte, about 115 miles east of the French Antarctic scientific Dumont d'Urville Station, where the 2005 documentary "March of the Penguins" was filmed, and about 1,700 miles south of Hobart, Australia, the Tasmanian capital.

The scientists and tourists sought to repeat and extend many of Mawson's wildlife and weather observations in the hope of building a picture of how parts of the Antarctic Circle have changed in the past century.

I would bet that the majority of those on this expedition are of the Greenie variety. This is just the first blizzard and Ice Pack of summer down under. I bet they will sing a different tune should they come out alive. Our NOAA service is still declaring this to be the warmest on record with record low amounts of ice. Reality hurts. The Chinese are stuck in 17 foot thick ice and maybe more by now. The Aussies refuse to listen to our NOAA and had the good sense to turn back and stand by in open water. Hope the Ice don't crush them but that is the chance you take when you believe imbeciles.

This is NO JOKE.
IT is quite possible they could ALL DIE should the ice CRUSH THE HULL LIKE A COKE CAN and suddenly sink one or more of the ships. The cruise ship is most at peril since it's hull is least beefed up, much less than the ice breakers, since it is only reinforced against the possibility of merely striking a small floating passing ice, not crushing pack ice. The reporting seems to be slanted towards ignoring the real peril and nobody aboard that cruise ship who REALLY knows the real danger would be still "exuberant" and partying.
I find those making smart ass remarks about their situation as repugnant as people joking about trapped miners.

It seems to me that the greatest danger is for the lives of those on the ships stuck on the ice. Now maybe I'm a little bit dense here, but if the ice is that thick, could they not send some snowmobiles or helicopters to rescue those people? Eventually they will run out of fuel for heat and light, and food.

Wasn't this last year an extremely icy one for the arctic region also?

Needs more cowbell."The Constitution only gives people the right to persue happiness. You have to catch it yourself." --Benjamin Franklin
Proud member of fly-over country

This is NO JOKE.
IT is quite possible they could ALL DIE should the ice CRUSH THE HULL LIKE A COKE CAN and suddenly sink one or more of the ships. The cruise ship is most at peril since it's hull is least beefed up, much less than the ice breakers, since it is only reinforced against the possibility of merely striking a small floating passing ice, not crushing pack ice. The reporting seems to be slanted towards ignoring the real peril and nobody aboard that cruise ship who REALLY knows the real danger would be still "exuberant" and partying.
I find those making smart ass remarks about their situation as repugnant as people joking about trapped miners.

You really can't fault the comments. As you said, the reporting made light of it all without expressing the severity of the situation. My brother was assigned to an ice breaker at one point. They do have their weaknesses and his was commanded by a senile captian who ran them into an iceberg and ripped a hole in the hull. They came close to sinking.

This is NO JOKE.
IT is quite possible they could ALL DIE should the ice CRUSH THE HULL LIKE A COKE CAN and suddenly sink one or more of the ships. The cruise ship is most at peril since it's hull is least beefed up, much less than the ice breakers, since it is only reinforced against the possibility of merely striking a small floating passing ice, not crushing pack ice. The reporting seems to be slanted towards ignoring the real peril and nobody aboard that cruise ship who REALLY knows the real danger would be still "exuberant" and partying.
I find those making smart ass remarks about their situation as repugnant as people joking about trapped miners.

A little synchronicity, we watched "Shackleton" over the holiday break, the movie based on Sir Ernest Shackleton's trip to the region in 1914. Called "the greatest survival story of all time", the adventure began by his ship becoming frozen in the ice, exactly like the one there now.

It certainly proves that believing the lies of the warmist fanatics can have fatal consequences. Perhaps they subscribed to the science magazines (can't remember the names) which recently decided to stop printing letters from 'global warming deniers.'

President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. --Clint Eastwood
Negotiating with Obama is like playing chess with a pigeon. The pigeon knocks over all the pieces, sh*ts on the board, and then struts around like he won the game! --attributed to Vladimir Putin

"The stranded research vessel is carrying tourists and scientists studying climate change"

Let them walk home.

Actually, I'm wondering if some of the tourists might be Americans--I know Neal Boortz (the recently-retired, Atlanta-based conservative talk-show host) had mentioned before Christmas that his very next trip was to go to Antarctica.

And yes, it's VERY dangerous, and the clueless MSM doesn't get it--the pressures of the ice on the hulls of the ships is tremendous, and the danger is NOT that they will run out of food and starve, or run out of fuel and freeze to death, but that the ship will be CRUSHED like a styrofoam cup and SINK...

Be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled…Let no man deceive you by any means…..

they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved….for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie….

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

The Russian ship thats stuck is also carrying a load of global warming propionates lets hope they're being stuck lasts a little longer like another two weeks, and while its summer at the Antarctic may be they will get some extreme temperature lows like minus -50 below zero with some blinding snow storms.

This is NO JOKE.
IT is quite possible they could ALL DIE should the ice CRUSH THE HULL LIKE A COKE CAN and suddenly sink one or more of the ships. The cruise ship is most at peril since it's hull is least beefed up, much less than the ice breakers, since it is only reinforced against the possibility of merely striking a small floating passing ice, not crushing pack ice. The reporting seems to be slanted towards ignoring the real peril and nobody aboard that cruise ship who REALLY knows the real danger would be still "exuberant" and partying.
I find those making smart ass remarks about their situation as repugnant as people joking about trapped miners.

They sure could die. Ice can crush that ship like a Coors Light can. But they are not trapped miners who work hard for a living and the press has been spouting that the polar camps are shrinking. They will not allow contradictory opinions in certain so called scientific journals. This year several vessels tried to make the Northern passage around the North Pole and where trapped. They had to be cut out of the ice by cutters. They refuse to accept the fact that we have cold weather and the polar caps are growing. Hence we now have climate change instead of global warming to be taxed on. As long as this is agenda driven to place a global tax on all of us I will say what I want about this type of event. Tired of the BS. Might even mock them a little when I get a chance. They are trapped at mid summer for the Antarctic in ice and blizzard. Choppers can't fly in the weather so they will have to sit it out or get out on the ice and walk over to the Chinese vessel. It is critical but I think they will be alright in the end. Unless of course the blizzard gets stronger and the Ice gets thicker. Hope they have a DVD of the movie The Day After Tomorrow.

It seems to me that the greatest danger is for the lives of those on the ships stuck on the ice. Now maybe I'm a little bit dense here, but if the ice is that thick, could they not send some snowmobiles or helicopters to rescue those people? Eventually they will run out of fuel for heat and light, and food.

Wasn't this last year an extremely icy one for the arctic region also?

A snowmobile wouldn't get 5 feet in that ice surface, more like a jam up of ice boulders, almost impossible to even clamber over and highly dangerous, shifting, creating sudden openings in the ice, subject to trapping anyone trying to cross it. Crossing to the Chinese ice breaker, the closest ship, which is also ice trapped, but is much less likely to be crushed by the ice, would only be a life or death. last resort option should their ship be crushed and sink. It is VERY close, but would probably take more than a day of climbing over the dangerous, rugged field of ice boulders jammed against each other to reach the Chinese ship.

The only hope I see is for a helicopter rescue and wonder why it hasn't begun yet. The longer they wait the more danger they face from potential hull crushing or even hull compromising forces. Those people REALLY NEED PRAYER, regardless of their politics or foolishness.

...The only hope I see is for a helicopter rescue and wonder why it hasn't begun yet. The longer they wait the more danger they face from potential hull crushing or even hull compromising forces. Those people REALLY NEED PRAYER, regardless of their politics or foolishness.

CNN says there are blizzard conditions there which rules out the helicopters. I'm praying that "stupid should really hurt"...

A caller to Mark Steyn on Rush's show today suggested the ship should be rechristened, 'Inconvenient Truth'.

President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. --Clint Eastwood
Negotiating with Obama is like playing chess with a pigeon. The pigeon knocks over all the pieces, sh*ts on the board, and then struts around like he won the game! --attributed to Vladimir Putin

I just saw on this afternoon's news program that apparently they have enough supplies to last for a while. So, according to the reporter, the scientist on board are just continuing to do their experiments and the passengers are keeping the outside world updated. I guess it hasn't crossed any of their tiny minds that the ice could crush their ship and they will be in for an ice bath!

And helicopter rescue is out because of bad weather there or moving in soon. But get this, the leader of this little scientific expedition still insists that polar ice is melting! Maybe not quick enough to save him though!

Needs more cowbell."The Constitution only gives people the right to persue happiness. You have to catch it yourself." --Benjamin Franklin
Proud member of fly-over country

I read somewhere that they DO have at least one helicopter standing by to evacuate them out.

Helicopter Rescue Planned for Those Aboard Icebound Ship Off Antarctica

Passengers and some crew members aboard a research ship that has been stuck in thick Antarctic ice for nearly a week will be evacuated by helicopter, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday.

The ministry said in a statement that because icebreakers had been unable to clear a path to the chartered Russian ship, the Akademik Shokalskiy, a helicopter aboard one of the icebreakers would be used to ferry 52 scientists, graduate students, journalists and tourists and four crew members to safety when weather permits. The rest of the 22-member crew will remain on board to maintain the ship.

High winds and snow earlier on Monday forced an Australian icebreaker to abandon its attempt to reach the icebound ship. A Chinese icebreaker failed in a similar attempt on Saturday; it carries the helicopter that will be used in the evacuation. The Russian ministry said the evacuated passengers and crew members would be taken aboard the Chinese ship, the Xue Long.

The 233-foot Shokalskiy became stuck in the ice last Tuesday when strong winds pushed loose pack ice up against it near Cape de la Motte, about 1,700 miles south of Hobart, Tasmania. It is carrying the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, scientists and tourists who are studying changes to the environment of East Antarctica in the century since the region was first explored.

The Australian icebreaker, the Aurora Australis, which had been diverted from a supply mission to the Australian Antarctic base, Casey Station, reached the area early Monday, entered the pack ice and got within 12 miles of the Shokalskiy, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the rescue operation.

But the authority said in a statement that poor visibility due to the snow and winds of up to 35 miles an hour made it unsafe for the icebreaker to continue. It is now in open water about 20 miles away, the authority said.

The Xue Long was about two months into a five-month Chinese Antarctic expedition when it was asked to help with the rescue.

The Russian ministry’s statement did not say where those evacuated from the Shokalskiy would be taken, but in addition to Casey Station, which is more than 500 miles to the west, there is a French station at Dumont d’Urville, about 100 miles to the east.

In an earlier phone interview from the ship, Chris Turney, a leader of the research expedition and a professor of climate change at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said that all aboard were well and that morale was high. The ship has enough food and other necessities to last several weeks.

The expedition, including 20 tourists, set sail from Bluff, New Zealand, on Dec. 8 on what was to be a monthlong voyage. The expedition is retracing some of the travels and replicating some of the studies of the Australian geologist Douglas Mawson, who first explored East Antarctica from 1911 to 1914.

The ship anchored at the edge of pack ice on Dec. 18, and Dr. Turney and others spent a day journeying about 45 miles across the ice to Mawson’s hut. The ship then headed east through open water. But as it began heading north, Dr. Turney said, it “ran afoul of very strong winds” that pushed the loose ice in its way.

“It pegged us in,” he said, and the frozen expanse quickly grew as more ice piled up. “At first we were just two nautical miles from getting to open water, and now it’s 20.”

Even though it is summer in the Antarctic, waiting for the ice to break up on its own is not an option, Dr. Turney said, because of the risk that the ship could drift along with the ice and collide with one of several icebergs in the area.

Since the ship became stuck, Dr. Turney and others have been a regular presence on Twitter and other social media sites. Some have made short videos describing their experiences.

Dr. Turney said that some of the people aboard had gone onto the ice to study birds and to make other scientific observations, and that others had occupied themselves on board with ad hoc classes in subjects like knot tying.

And a steady diet of films has been available to help pass the time, he said.

“At first, people were starting to watch disaster movies,” Dr. Turney added. “But I had to stop that.” Now it is mostly comedies, although episodes of the hit series “Breaking Bad” have been popular, too.

It seems to me that the greatest danger is for the lives of those on the ships stuck on the ice. Now maybe I'm a little bit dense here, but if the ice is that thick, could they not send some snowmobiles or helicopters to rescue those people? Eventually they will run out of fuel for heat and light, and food.

Wasn't this last year an extremely icy one for the arctic region also?

this ice is more like glacial ice, not the stuff you seen on a frozen lake or river. The ice is very jagged, chopped up and moves/sinks without any notice at all due to the wind and ocean currents. Another words it's not safe enough to take a snow mobile across, dunno if one of those larger artic cats could make it or not.

climate change can mean anything, warming, cooling, or the same, man made or not, the climate does not stand still so climate change means what's happening

That is why they now have to place the mind set that anything weather related is climate change man made and you will have to pay. By the way I have done many a SAR missions and would gladly help the people on board if I could. It is the way I was made. However I would probably greet them with "it looks like you got yourself stuck in some real global warming". Never learned to turn the other cheek but I do help people when I can.

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